A black man in a gray suit sits in an office conference room, hand on chin in a thoughtful pose, looking sideways with a skeptical expression. Two women work at a desk in the background near a glass wall covered in colorful sticky notes.

OSPO Notes: Open Source Governance — Who Decides, and How

Every open source project eventually hits a moment where someone has to make a call nobody agreed on in advance — and governance is the system that determines who has the authority to make it. This post walks through every major governance model in plain language, from BDFLs and do-ocracies to lazy consensus and multi-stakeholder consortia, including how mature projects like Kubernetes layer several models at once. MkDocs is included as a real-world example of what happens when governance gets skipped entirely.

March 31, 2026 · Chris Short
Picture of stars in the sky with a slightly blue tint to it

OSPO Notes: How to find your community

Most OSPO leaders think their committers are their community — they’re not. Start with git shortlog -sne to identify contributors, then layer in GitHub Insights and LFX Insights for richer data. For the full picture, spin up GrimoireLab to pull from Slack, Discourse, mailing lists, and more. But the real community — the bug reporters, bloggers, meetup organizers, and lurkers in a Telegram group you’ve never heard of — lives outside your repo entirely. Cast a wide net across social media, forums, and conference talks, and don’t be shy about asking your known community where they hang out.

March 25, 2026 · Chris Short
Chris Short's desk the cleanest you'll ever see it

Desk Setup, January 2026

There’s a metaphor out there that you should write about something if you are asked about it more than three times. I cannot count how many times folks ask about my setup, so I’ll capture it here. I also haven’t posted anything about my desk since we finished our basement, which includes my office. Actually the last time I wrote about this was five years ago, almost to the day. Note: I may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs. ...

January 27, 2026 · Chris Short
A disposable cup of popcorn in a movie theater

Short Family's Ultimate Holiday Movie Marathon: 29 Holiday Films

Note: The Short household is a Plex household. We use Plex to stream our media collection to various devices in our home and when traveling. If you’re interested in connecting on Plex, send a request! The holiday season isn’t complete without a good movie marathon, and we’ve assembled the ultimate collection of 29 Christmas films that span generations, genres, and styles. The Classics That Started It All 1. Home Alone (1990) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 66% ...

December 10, 2025 · Chris Short
via [Spongebob Image Generator](https://spongebob.gavinr.com/)

914 Days Later — My Journey Off Klonopin

This is a significant accomplishment for me. I’m taking a moment to celebrate it while at the same time trying to warn others about the highly addictive drug, Klonopin (clonazepam). Mental healthcare in the United States can be great, once you figure out how to get it. It’s not talked about enough, it’s stigmatized, and it requires incredible courage to take the first step. But, it’s 200% worth it. However, some doctors may not be keeping up with the latest knowledge about which drugs are effective for specific symptoms as new ones emerge and the industry replaces older ones. It happens. I knew this going in. But, I made one critical mistake that I want to highlight: I didn’t ask enough questions before my doctor prescribed it. ...

July 20, 2025 · Chris Short